Magnetic
by MedliSage
Summary: The process of choosing an appropriate Proxy wasn't hard at all. As to why? Because he was ideal for the case, and nothing more.


It must have surprised Megumi when Joshua showed up only a day after their bet to tell him that he had selected his Proxy, and that said Proxy would be participating in the next Reaper's Game. Choosing someone to play in his place – in Joshua's place, in the _Composer's _place – surely that wasn't a selection to be made in less than twenty-four hours. Surely, he would pick only the best of the best, someone who he thought would be guaranteed to win the game in his place.

Of course, he did pick someone just like that. After all, the level of Imagination possessed by Neku Sakuraba was much higher than the rest of Shibuya, and he was so distrustful and would stop at nothing to get himself out of the Game. That's why he was picked, and there was nothing more.

And those are the same reasons why Joshua was able to pick him so quickly – of course, he had taken note of Neku's presence quite some time ago. A Composer was in charge of all the Souls of Shibuya, essentially – so it would have been hard not to notice Neku Sakuraba, whose Soul had such a distinct burning to it, such a blaze and Imagination like Joshua had never seen. That's not to say Joshua hadn't sensed others with brighter Souls than others or higher Imaginations, and Joshua had often went to observe these people from the UG. But ultimately, they bored him, like everything else in the world had – they changed nothing for him. In the end, they were still just other people.

Yet he stuck with Neku Sakuraba.

It had been a few months since Joshua had noticed him the first time, staring at Mr. H's mural in Udagawa with such unabashed admiration. Almost cute. Joshua had walked up to him, watching the other's eyes oh so intricately following each line and stroke of the paint, as if trying to absorb and imprint it into his brain. It perplexed Joshua a bit; while he didn't deny Mr. H's artistic proficiency, the reason behind the popularity of his work had always been an enigma to Joshua. It was just street art – why did it seem to draw in people so? Whatever it was, it had certainly entranced this boy in front of him. He brought his hand up to the mural and traced a large, black stroke with his fingertips. Without quite realizing it, Joshua in turn did the same, following along the same stroke, his fingertips almost within the others – of course, the boy next to him could see nothing of this, as the line of existence between the RG and the UG still separated them.

And then the almost dream like state the boy had been in vanished in an instant as his head snapped quickly to the other end of the backstreets, where a pair of noisy teenagers were now walking toward them. As if it were more a reflexive instinct than even a practiced motion, the boy grabbed at the pair of headphones slung around his neck and pulled them up over his ears, and then proceeded to tuck his chin into his collar a bit, shove his hands into his pockets, and begin down the backstreets as if he had just been walking by.

Without quite realizing it Joshua followed the boy. And as the group of teenagers passed them by and the boy reached up and pulled his headphones a bit closer to his ears, Joshua met his eyes, and though it was impossible Joshua swore he saw his own reflection within them for a fleeting second.

–

He would come to learn the next time he saw him that his name was Neku Sakuraba – Sakuraba being written on the nameplate of the door to his apartment, and his first name being said in such an oh so loving monotone voice from his mother when he had walked in. Neku gave her a quiet "hi" before retreating straight into his bedroom, promptly shutting the door behind him – to which, of course, Joshua phased through with ease. Why had he followed him home? Because it was natural for Joshua to be interested in a boy with such a bright Soul, of course. That was it and nothing more.

The room, not very surprisingly, had several of Mr. H's – well to Neku, CAT's – works on the walls. It was rather dark, as both shades were completely drawn, until Neku turned on a lamp in the corner of the room after tossing his school bag to some corner. He then kicked off his shoes and flopped stomach-first onto the rather messy bed. After taking a moment to take off his headphones and carefully lay them next to him, Neku shifted and bent over the side of the bed, arms reaching under it, before returning topside, a small book of sorts in his hands.

Curiously, Joshua took a few steps closer and it became clear what the book was – it was a sketchbook, surprisingly new-looking for how many pages had been filled in it. Once a blank page was finally found, Neku removed the pencil from the spiral binding and began to trace light lines along the paper.

He stopped very quickly when there was a knock at the door – in a practiced motion he closed the book and slipped it under his pillow, then grabbed his headphones and put them over his ears. "Yeah?"

The door opened a bit and his mother stood there. "I need to leave early. I went food shopping."

"Okay."

There was a bit of a pause as both of them simply endured the silence, as if this was where the conversation generally ended but for some reason she had not left. "What are you doing?" She finally asked.

"Listening to music."

A sigh, a mix of defeat and the lack of will, escaped from the woman. "See you."

"See you."

The door shut, and Neku promptly slid his headphones back off and pulled the sketchbook back out from under the pillow and resumed his work.

–

And so over the period of the next couple of months, when Joshua had the time, he would periodically come to check up on Neku Sakuraba. Why? Because he was such a bright Soul with such high Imagination and it was Joshua's job to watch over these kinds of things. That was it and nothing more.

Joshua could almost always find Neku no matter when it was – it didn't take him long to figure out Neku's routine. Everyday it was go to school, walking a long way that take him by the mural each time – which he stopped to look at so long as no one else was around – and then go back home and sketch. When he wasn't sketching he was listening to music or spending a bit of time on his laptop – on some occasions he would take walks about Shibuya, always going by some other pieces of Mr. H's works.

There was a slight period of time during which Joshua dropped in on Neku a bit less often – because whenever he went and saw him he felt a distant pain in his chest, some kind of distant wanting. And when this happened Joshua found himself thinking about the most arbitrary of things – what if he had met Neku before he became Composer? Would they get along? Would Neku talk to him? Had Neku ever talked to people? That was the only question Joshua could answer – surely Neku had. Because Joshua knew for himself that no one could be that closed off from people without once having been open to them.

Yet the other questions tugged at his mind, not only from curiosity – because somewhere, distantly, it was almost like Joshua knew these answers, and he may have even pictured it once – him and Neku, as friends. And every time these lines of questions came up Joshua would quickly and characteristically shake his head, because how silly and ridiculous could this get?

And the distant pain that came from seeing Neku somehow turned into a deeper distant pain when Joshua had decided to drop in on him less often, so he quickly returned into the routine of checking up on him rather frequently.

–

"End... Shibuya? But Composer... Sir! Why!?"

"I've decided to wash my hands of it. It has no future value to me or anyone else. So, I'm shutting it down."

It was a decision Joshua had come to after many months of deliberation. In the end, it seemed like the only logical choice. In his whole life, even his time as Composer where he could see everyone's Souls and read their thoughts at will – there had not been a single person who had challenged his view on humanity. They were all a bunch of selfish, self-driven mindless hurting monsters who cared for nobody but themselves and who did nothing but hurt anyone who dared to open to them, so why should he –

"Wait, Sir! Shibuya is still full of so many possibilities!"

"Yes, and people too dull and clouded to see them. Shibuya's influence is too strong. I have to end it now... before the other grounds are poisoned and all is lost."

"Then... the problem is the people? If they changed to something more suitable, You'd stay Your hand?

"Yes, but that's clearly beyond them." "Sir... give me a chance to prove You wrong. I swear I'll remake Shibuya in a way that will please You."

Suddenly a gleam flashed in Joshua's eyes – perhaps this could be interesting. A bet. There was no way Joshua could fight Megumi directly, though, the scales would be tipped far too much in his own favor – no, he'd have to have a substitute, someone in his place – but he couldn't just not watch how the Game was going at all – then, perhaps –

"... A Game, then."

"_The_ Game?"

"That's right. The rules will be simple. If you manage to fix Shibuya, you win. Shibuya stays."

"...And if I can't fix it?"

"Then you lose, Megumi. You and Shibuya will be erased."

"...That's all right. If I can risk my life to protect Shibuya, I will. But what chance do I have of beating You?

At this, Joshua almost smirked. "Relax, Megumi. I'll be sure to handicap myself. I'll retreat to the RG. And I won't challenge you directly. But I will pick a Player to represent me. Since you've piqued my interest with this talk of rebuilding, expect me to be watching from the sidelines."

"Very well, Sir. I'll enter Your Game."

And for the first time in he didn't know how long, Joshua felt his heart beat in his chest as mind began to run at a hundred miles an hour with his plans. "Then first I'll need to collect your entry fee. You have one month, Megumi. I wish you nothing but success."

–

It was Sunday afternoon so surely Joshua would catch Neku at the mural. This had to be timed intricately; he had already sensed that one Reaper on his tail earlier... though Joshua wasn't sure _how_ the crazed mathematician knew his true identity, that was irrelevant at the moment. Though that Reaper posed him no real threat, he would prefer to spend as little time doing this as possible – particularly in the RG, where his powers would be weakened, even if the Reaper's would be as well.

Even if it had been quite some time since he used it – the last time actually being when he had used it on himself – Joshua spun the chamber of the revolver in his hand like it was a practiced motion, and after clicking it back into place phased himself into the RG and rounded the street corner in a sprint.

There he was, of course. Neku Sakuraba stood looking up at the mural with a sense of amazement clearly plastered onto his face, unaware of Joshua's presence. And there, of course, some fifteen feet on his other side, was that one Reaper – Sho Minamimoto. But how he did he _know,_ how did he know Joshua would be here, the only person he told was, of course, Mr. H –

That didn't matter right now. Joshua continued to sprint toward Neku and the he was quickly noticed; Neku's head snapped in his direction and as their eyes met, Neku's body froze up, panic overtaking him. Joshua's gaze quickly shifted though to Sho, who quickly held up a gun of his own and pointed it at the others. The clicking of it drew Neku's attention, who gasped once and then instinctively shut his eyes and held his arms in front of his face – right as Sho shot several bullets at Joshua. It was with ease that Joshua focused and stopped the bullets several inches from his face; what kind of fool was this Reaper, to think that Joshua's, the Composer's power would be diminished that much simply by shifting to the RG? Gun lowered, a smirk spread across Joshua's face as he took several steps forward, the bullets falling to the ground as if their suspending strings had been cut.

A moment later and Joshua raised his gun again, pointing it at Sho – a threat without words, one that he knew the other would respond too. Neku, caught in the middle, fell to the ground, body facing Neku but head turned toward Sho.

"I blew it...!" Sho finally scowled, before lowering his gun and retreating back, body disappearing into the veil of the UG.

The next second seemed to last an eternity.

Neku's gaze was still fixated on where Sho had seemingly vanished into thin air. His chest was moving at a rapid and shallow pace, eyes a bit wide with fear and and confusion. His torso was exposed ever so cleanly to Joshua; it was like fate, it was like destiny. Just like the one bullet it took to put Joshua in the UG where he belonged, the same it was for this boy.

And so it was with no hesitation that Joshua raised his gun once more and pulled the trigger.

It was a clean shot and Neku died either instantaneously or within the second – his body flew back a couple of feet before collapsing back onto the ground. Without delay, Joshua reached into his pocket and stepped over the other's corpse, and uncurled his fist so as to allow the Player Pin to fall from his hand onto Neku's chest.

–

The next week was spent, of course, observing Neku's actions throughout the Game. And as predicted, it was a performance nothing short of exactly what Joshua needed from him and expected. The week quickly went by and it was time for the next Game; the one where the Neku's partner would be no less than Joshua himself.

"You're nervous," Mr. H commented as Joshua turned his head around the corner to look at Hachiko once more.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm checking frequently because I can't afford to miss him and have him get partnered to some incompetent nobody." Joshua wore a mixture of a small pout and almost curiosity as he turned to meet Mr. H's gaze. "Why would_ I_ be nervous?"

"You tell me. He's just another person, yeah?"

"...Right."

"So then why'd you pick him, J? Him out of anyone in Shibuya to be your Proxy."

"We've been over this," Joshua replied curtly, head turning to look over at Hachiko again before going back to Mr. H. "He's ideal for the case. Like everyone else in Shibuya, he cares only for himself, so he'll stop at nothing to win the Game. And more than that, his Imagination is something else. You saw how well he's been handling himself out there."

"But his entry fee this time around is that girl. You can't tell me he still cares only about himself. That's proof if anything right there. He's changing, J."

To this, Joshua gave no reply, and only turned his head round the corner again. Watching Neku get close to that girl from last week was... a bit jarring, if anything. It was the first time Joshua had seen Neku smile at something that wasn't Mr. H's artwork, and the first time he had seen him truly talk to someone else. It wasn't quite the same person to he had related to – come to know over these past couple of months.

"But don't let that make you nervous," Mr. H eventually continued. "You have a whole week together. Reach out to him. I think he has a thing or two to teach you. That's why you really picked him, isn't it? Even if he's come to care for that girl, I'm sure the two of you could still be friends."

Joshua's head swung reflexively to meet Mr. H's eyes once more, and for once he began to speak without thinking. "That's –"

A sudden dissonance, the familiar sound of Noise emerging, cut his speech off.

"That's your cue, J. Best of luck."

Joshua gave Mr. H one last look before rounding the corner. Within a second he caught sight of Neku, who had a group of Noise beginning to surround him, and it only took Joshua another few moments to get close enough to initiate the pact.

Between the two of them the Noise was erased within seconds, even with Neku's initial bewilderment as to who he had been so suddenly aligned to. Even amongst confusion and without any kind of verbal communication, their attacks almost seemed to coordinate themselves. And so it was with a smirk that Joshua approached Neku for the first time since the fateful encounter at the mural.

"Howdy."

Neku only stared at him in a stunned silence.

"The name's Yoshiya Kiryu. But Mother and Father call me Joshua. I guess you can call me Joshua, too – seeing as you're my dear, dear partner. Hee hee..."

* * *

A/N: too lazy to proofread i am sorry im not even sure what this is anymore but whatever


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